a quick trip down the ole Budapest memory lane...

Well…it has been a while since my last post, so I thought it was time again to offer an update…

In addition to my work and my life in Belgrade, which I will detail in another post, shortly after my last post, I travelled to Budapest for a weekend. As some of you know, I had lived for a time in Budapest before moving to Georgia to pursue my PhD studies. When I lived there, I met a most amazing group of people from all over the world, many of which with whom I am still very close. With this group I spent my every waking moment for the entire time I lived there. I have travelled many places, before that time and since, and have met people from all walks of life and from many nations, and sadly, many of their names and faces remain only in overlapping foggy bits of memory and the occasional photograph. Yet, the people who made-up the core group of my B’pest crew each remain as distinct and sharply drawn in my mind as when we were “the group,” nearly 10 years ago now…so much so that a few of us call the zenith of that time the “summer of love.” (and I am not sure I have any photographs of that time)

Many times since then I have tried to write about those people and our escapades, but have found myself at a loss. The truth is that anything I could say about any one of them would seem like a caricature of a person, or at the very least, would seem as if I were exaggerating, so I will not try here to paint them for you. What I will say is that, while in nostalgic memory, every moment of that time seems like the best time ever, it would not be accurate to remember that every moment was sunshine or that we all loved each other without exception at every turn. However, I think it would be accurate to say that, regardless of any flaws we may have occasionally found with one another, and regardless of any frustrations any one of us had with any other, over all I don’t think that anyone in retrospect would wish that any individual member of “the group” wouldn’t have been there. This is simply because, in my humble opinion, each of these people individually would likely have been one of the most unusual and interesting people that most people would ever have occasion to meet, so that in concert we kept each other endlessly entertained, and had occasion to take part in a seemingly infinite series of adventures.

In any event, I try to go back to Budapest for a few days whenever I am in Europe. There are still a few people from the old group living there, and usually a few more are passing through concurrently, so Budapest is always a fun old time. This time was no exception. Being in Budapest this time reminded me so much of why I loved living there…lots of fun things to do in the evenings, meeting random fun people in conjunction with old friends, dancing, drinking and general merriment into the wee-hours each night. Further, after being for several months now in Belgrade, where all the streets were planned long before urban planning was a concept, and where the narrow streets and compact features allow you to feel a bit closed-in, I was astonished by Budapest’s wide, beautiful streets and lovely buildings. The funny thing is that while I have always loved Budapest, and always thought it was pretty, I had never thought of it as really beautiful…I mean “it’s no Prague.” But this time I completely fell in love with it again!! It seemed so beautiful to me!!

Also while I was there we went to see Slumdog Millionaire…finally! I can’t believe I waited so long to see this film. I LOVED it!!! First of all…the soundtrack is brilliant! But I also loved the story. However, I am a little confused as to why to was billed a “feel good” movie…can someone please explain to me which part was supposed to make us feel good? Was it the part where the boy’s brother steals and sells the trophy for which the boy literally struggled through shit and crowds to obtain? Or perhaps it was the part where the boys’ mother was massacred? Or maybe it was the part where the kids were “rescued” from their life picking through trash at the city dump…only to be slaves? Or the part where the boy is blinded? Or the boy is electrocuted? Oh so many feel good moments! In fact, as the film ended (incidentally, I did think the ending was kind of lame) I had to sit for a good 10 minutes trying to stop the “feel good” tears before I could go into the light of the theatre lobby! Anyhow…despite the gross mislabeling of the film as “feel good,” and the trite ending, I loved loved loved this film, and have been listening to the soundtrack constantly ever since!!

OH…one more thing here…I had brought a book with me on the train trip which I anticipated reading on both the trip to and from Budapest. About ½ way there, I opened the book which was a little over 300 pages. By the time I arrived, I had about 100 pages left, which I finished the next morning! God I love a good story!! I ate this one up! It is called Water for Elephants…and I LOVED every minute of it. I don’t want to spoil it in case anyone wants to read it, but it you are in the market for a really engaging tale, I highly recommend it!

Anyhow, after my weekend trip to Budapest, I returned to Belgrade, and for the next week I felt in an utter panic. You see, somehow in the last several years I have become a sort of work-addict and while each time I take a break and go on some kind of holiday, I realize as soon as I leave how much I needed the break, I also constantly feel guilty for any moment I am not working, and as I am on the return trip my anxiety about all the things I should have been working on comes rushing upon me with intensity. So once I returned from B’pest, with the glow of a great weekend still persisting around me, I set out on a major work jag to rival any party-girl jag I would have undertaken a decade ago.

In closing, I miss my Budapest friends, and I hope to see them again soon…either again in B’pest or here in Belgrade. And while, of course, the care-free days of the “summer of love” can never fully be recaptured, I am so grateful that so many of these amazing people are still part of my life.